Longitudinal assessment of clonal mosaicism in human hematopoiesis via mitochondrial mutation tracking

Our ability to track cellular dynamics in humans over time in vivo has been limited. Here, we demonstrate how somatic mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can be used to longitudinally track the dynamic output of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in humans. Over the course of 3 years of blood sampling in a single individual, our analyses reveal somatic mtDNA sequence variation and evolution reminiscent of models of hematopoiesis...